Chapter Eight #2
Caine and the beta from his office were in the lobby near the front door, as well as a long-haired beta male and two other guards I didn’t recognise.
They were preparing their guns.
“You found her?” I said, hurrying over to Caine.
He nodded. “Yes, a few hours ago. We—”
“A few fucking hours?” I seethed, my nerves scattering. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Why are you still here?”
He holstered his weapon, and I deliberately didn’t watch. “We had to plan, ensure we could get her out safely. It’s a delicate situation. We have to be careful.”
My throat clicked on a dry swallow. “Is she hurt?”
“No,” he answered simply, and I couldn’t feel relief, not until she was in my arms, but knowing she wasn’t in pain settled at least a small piece of me. “We will have her back, soon enough.”
I nodded, and in the same moment, the front door opened.
A man—another beta—strolled in, a cocksure smirk on his face.
His features mirrored Caine’s, but . . .
more expressive. He had an air about him that screamed arrogance, but in a nonchalant way.
He was a few inches shorter, and not as broad.
No grey in his swept back reddish-brown hair or his light stubble.
Less tattoos adorned his muscled arms, but with his shirt unbuttoned the way it was, I spotted a dragonfly on his collarbone.
The same one Caine had on the side of his face and Brian on his wrist.
The Devereux symbol.
His green eyes locked onto me, and his grin widened, taking on a wilder edge. “This must be the omega,” he purred, his voice nothing like Caine’s wooden, “posh boy” inflection. “Dylan, is it? Well, aren’t you a pretty little thing.”
An inhuman sound vibrated in Caine’s throat, and the man halted a few feet away.
He threw his head back, a singular laugh barking from his mouth.
“Oh, chill out,” he mocked, wiping an imaginary tear from under his eye.
“I might be a beta, but I can smell your spunk all over him. I wouldn’t dare try my luck. ”
I’d showered. Twice.
I scowled. “Who are you?”
His eyes lit up, as if my question amused him. “Aaron Devereux. Caine’s twin.” He bowed dramatically. “You’re feisty. Good. You’ll need that for what’s to come.”
“Caine,” his bodyguard called out to him, her manner grave, and he strode over. I trailed him with my gaze, panic needling in my gut.
When I glanced back, Aaron’s face had morphed into something softer. Sympathetic. It looked out of place. “We’ll get her back. Don’t worry.” He shrugged. “Caine’s a massive twat but he’s good at what he does. He’s not the supreme leader for nothing.”
I smiled wryly. To be honest, I would’ve laughed under any other circumstance. I liked him, purely for his observation. “I have no choice but to trust that.”
He inched closer, reaching out as if to pat my shoulder, but he thought better of it. “Then you’re smart.”
“Oi, dick for brains!” A woman barrelled through the open door—another beta, there was a theme here. She wasn’t wearing bodyguard attire, though she had a gun strapped to her hip and the Devereux symbol on the side of her neck. “You owe me six grand.”
Aaron winked at me before whirling around on his heels to speak to her. She was ranting about a bet, which Aaron was refuting valiantly, but I didn’t hear the specifics. The faintest whiff of a scent in the air had caught my attention. I sniffed, trying to discern where it was coming from.
Or who.
It was familiar, but I couldn’t place it. It wasn’t pheromones; it was an aftershave or perfume. A spicy variety. Potent. The kind that clung to clothes even after washing them several times, the scent persisting.
Where had I smelled it before?
“Go back to your room,” Caine ordered on his return. “Brian and the sentinels will stay behind.”
I scoffed. “I’m coming with you.”
“No, you—”
“I will cut out your tongue, don’t test me!”
The room fell silent, though from the corner of my eye I clocked Aaron’s lips thinning, his expression full of sheer demented delight.
Caine gritted his teeth. “Don’t get in the way.”
He turned, as if to leave, but I grabbed his arm. He stiffened. “Is this all you’re taking?” I asked, scanning the six people here besides us. “Don’t you need more?”
“Look outside.”
I peered around him, and sure enough, through the gap in the door, I could see there were at least a dozen more assembled in the courtyard. They were all in casual clothes, like they’d been called last minute and came straight here at their leader’s demand.
Aaron sidled up beside me. “There’s plenty more on standby, but we decided less is best on this occasion. Don’t want to alert the enemy by charging in with our full force.”
I nodded, appeased.
Caine stalked outside, and I pursued, the others following behind me.
The chatter faded immediately, all eyes fixed on the Alpha.
“You all have your orders,” he announced.
Firm. Dominant. “Take out the watchmen outside the warehouse and the surrounding area. Silently. Our priority is the girl. Get her out safely, and I’ll deal with whoever’s inside. ”
There was a flutter of nods, and a few of the crowd answered “Yes, boss” in unison. Guns clicked, loaded, and I outlined the knife through the fabric of my trouser pocket. I swallowed, apprehension coiling in my stomach. I really hoped I didn’t have to use it.
But I would, if the need arose.
“Come,” Caine bade, heading toward a black Bentley—the one that’d brought me here. Everyone else dispersed to the other cars parked over the driveway.
Brian slipped into the front seat, while the driver—an older man with kind eyes—held open the door for me. Caine and the long-haired beta from the lobby piled in on the left side. “Won’t the cars alert them?” I said, plastering my body as close to the window as possible.
Caine noticed, but said nothing of it. “My team tampered with the CCTV outside the warehouse. If they’re watching, all they’ll see is what we want them to see.”
“You know where they all are?”
He hummed. “Raegan was keeping tabs.” Raegan.
Was that his bodyguard? “Last she checked, there were two stationed at the door, and a number of smaller groups posted throughout the woods. They didn’t appear to be on high alert, so they’ll be easy to eliminate.
My pack will contend with those, while Tobias, Raegan, and I get her out. ”
My breath left my lungs heavier, even as I chewed my lip to stifle it. My hands were sweating, gripping my jeans, and my knee bounced. I didn’t want to show him I was scared, but I couldn’t help it.
If this went wrong—
“Nothing will go wrong,” he rumbled, interrupting my spiral. He wasn’t even looking at me. “You have my word.”
Whatever that was worth, I had to accept it.
Forty-three minutes and sixteen seconds later, the car came to a rolling stop in a wooded area, the tyres barely crunching on the dirt path. I spotted the warehouse in the distance, through the dense trees and brush. There were no people, and no other vehicles.
“Is no one else here?”
“They’re here,” the guy to his left confirmed. Tobias, I gathered.
“What—”
Knuckles rapped on the window on Caine’s side, before the door swung open. “Clear.”
Tobias jumped out and Caine trailed him with a little more grace. I unbuckled my seatbelt, crawling over the seat to follow, but the Alpha’s stern face appeared in front of me.
I stopped.
“You are staying here,” he instructed, and gestured toward the men in the front. “With George and Brian.”
My temper flared. “You expect me to wait here while—”
“This is not up for debate,” he ground out. “You couldn’t even fathom what we’re up against. They’ll put a bullet in her head if we make one wrong move. If they’ve figured out she’s my daughter, they won’t hesitate to use her against me. Do you understand?”
The fight in me vanished. “She’s just a baby.”
“They don’t care,” he dismissed. “This is the world you’re in now, Dylan. You asked for my help, so you have to at least trust I know what I’m doing. I will get her out.”
“Okay,” I agreed, sinking back into the seat.
The door slammed in my face, and I watched through the tinted windows as Caine, Tobias, and Raegan advanced on the warehouse, their guns in their hands, primed for violence. Aaron prowled from a gap in the trees, the knife in his fist already covered in blood.
They disappeared.
I stared at that pathway for what felt like forever, biting my nails to the quick, my body shaking, my heart pounding under my ribs.
Where were they? Why hadn’t they come back?
My eyes blurred, tears amassing, but I blinked them away, not wanting to miss the vision of them marching out of those woods with my baby.
Safe.
Brian tried to calm me down, offering soft words like I was a frightened kitten, but none of it worked. Nothing would. Only her face. I needed to see her face, to cradle her against me and have her scent in my nose again. I had to know she was okay. That she was whole, and unharmed, and—
I flinched as a gunshot rang through the forest.
My blood ran cold.
My brain switched off, and I charged out the door. I ran, drowning out the snick of other doors opening, Brian and George calling after me. Their footsteps bounded from behind, rustling the leaves, but I ran faster, my chest and thighs burning, my feet throbbing.
I had to protect my baby.
There were two men outside, slouched against the warehouse wall, blood pissing out from the dual slits in their throats, their jaws hanging lax.
My stomach churned, the smell assaulting my senses.
Fuck, I was going to be sick . . . No. I shook my head, gulping down the bile on my tongue before reaching for the door.
It opened.
Caine stormed out, clutching my baby girl protectively to his front, his hand covering her ear. His gaze met mine, and his face twisted with fury. “I told you to—”
“Da-ee!” Minnie cried, her little hand thrusting toward me.
I crumbled.
Choking sobs racked my body as I lunged, taking her from Caine.
“Minnie, b-baby,” I gasped, forcing the words through my tears.
“Are y-you okay?” I inspected her, combing my fingers through her soft locks, kissing her plump cheeks, her forehead, anywhere I could reach.
She had wet eyes. She’d been crying, likely because of the racket, but with a scan, I could see she wasn’t visibly hurt.
“She has no injuries,” Caine informed me, observing with an aloof expression. Though something in his eye told me he was no longer angry.
I sniffed, quivering with my inhale. “I heard a gunshot.”
“Yes.”
“Is anyone—”
“It happened once we’d left,” he cut in. “Not one of ours. A misfire, I presume.”
I nodded, feeling myself gradually calm as Minnie nuzzled against my neck. “I’ve got you,” I whispered into her hair, a wet smile forming on my lips. “I love you so much.”
Brian and George bolted into the clearing, and Caine pinned them both with a look that suggested he wasn’t best pleased. “Sorry, boss. I—”
“It wasn’t their fault,” I interrupted. There had been enough punishment for one day.
Caine said nothing, just guided us to the car, his hand a presence near my back but not touching.
Minnie peeked over my shoulder, intrigued by her new surroundings.
I’d missed that curiosity. Those dark eyes.
Her little nose, twitching with new smells.
The weight crushing my chest had lifted.
I felt whole. She was with me, my world continued to spin, and I swore I’d never do anything so reckless for the rest of my life.
I would sell my soul to keep her safe, and even if it killed me, no one was going to take her from me ever again.
Caine opened the car door, and I slid inside, placing Minnie on my lap, hugging her tightly. Realising I wasn’t moving from my position, the Alpha reached over me and buckled the seatbelt around us. He retreated, but before he could close the door, my hand darted out, seizing his wrist.
He glanced down at me, a question in his eye. I didn’t let him speak. “Thank you,” I said sincerely, uncaring for showing my vulnerability as a stray tear traced over my cheek. I even offered him a smile. “Truly. Thank you.”
He stared at me, his eye roving my face, expression unreadable, but he nodded before hunching forward to speak to Brian.
“Take them straight to the house,” he ordered.
“Have Sebastian check her over. I shielded her ears before the gunshot, and there are no obvious signs of pain, but just to be sure.”
Brian dipped his head. “Sure thing, boss.”
He looked at me again, then to Minnie, before lingering on me—on my eyes—one last time. He shut the door, and I watched for a moment as he trekked back through the forest toward the warehouse. The hand I’d touched flexed in and out of a fist at his side.
Minnie gurgled, and my attention was all hers. The engine rumbled, and I didn’t take my gaze off her the entire ride back to the mansion.
My baby was safe.